There are various types of those who call themselves gamers but are typically called by their parents bums who won't leave home. There are the kick, punch, jump gamers who typically possess the same IQ as an ashtray. We have also have the gunner gamers who kill everything that moves. Gunners don't get any more intelligent with computers. There are the epic gamers insofar as they have epic quests for adventure but, regrettably, it takes so much computing resource their computers have to be insured by Lloyd's of London due to expense and they frequently catch fire.
Zen Yogi: the computer or the gamer catches fire?
That's the gamer, Yogi, but the plus side for the parents is at least the little rotter finally leaves home.
Before all that was ZORK and it was inspired by ADVENTUR by Willie Crowther which set the standard for computer games and which practically all subsequent games failed ... except for ZORK: (Technology Review: The Enduring Legacy of Zork)
Note: ADVENTUR was the first game of any significance beyond silly games like STARTREK, etc. Aficionados typically walked about with a folded up (i.e. crumpled) sheet of paper on which they had scribbled the various locations they had discovered and how to get from those to others.
Zen Yogi: did ZORK have great graphics, Silas?
It didn't have any graphics, Yogi.
Zen Yogi: it must have had some kind of spectacularly cool form of control then, right?
There's nothing like that, Yogi. One types, it types, and then one types some more.
Zen Yogi: I tell you, Silas. It sounds like this ZORK sucks
Au contraire, my furry bear buddy, since the design was brilliant and millions were attracted to the subtle genius of it.
Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling—who between them earned seven MIT degrees in electrical engineering and computer science, political science, and biology—bonded over their interest in computer games, then in their infancy, as they worked or consulted for the Laboratory for Computer Science’s Dynamic Modeling Group. By day, all of them but Blank (who was in medical school) developed software for the U.S. Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which funded projects at MIT. On nights and weekends, they used their coding skills—and mainframe access—to work on Zork.
- TR
You see it right away that these fellows were much smarter than the average bears around them and the result of their development was exceptionally compelling.
Zen Yogi: you got hooked, didn't you?
Sure since I've been to the Land of Frobozz many, many times and I carried my crumpled map for reference whenever there was an opportunity to play.
Vibrant, witty writing set Zork apart. It had no graphics, but lines like “Phosphorescent mosses, fed by a trickle of water from some unseen source above, make [the crystal grotto] glow and sparkle with every color of the rainbow” helped players envision the “Great Underground Empire” they were exploring as they brandished such weapons as glowing “Elvish swords.” “We played with language just like we played with computers,” says Daniels. Wordplay also cropped up in irreverent character names such as “Lord Dimwit Flathead the Excessive” and “The Wizard of Frobozz.”
- TR
Zen Yogi: holy popping bubble gum, you're getting nostalgic, aren't you?
Shamelessly, Yogi.
It was a cool time since Zorkers came to know each other and Rick Prairie of the University of Cincinnati became the Zorker King. He held a PhD in Biochemistry but he preferred to be called Rick by people. He was one straight-up fellow with a great sense of humor and he's also the one who introduced me to MOSAIC, the first Web browser or the first accessible to the public.
In 1981, Infocom reacquired the rights to Zork from Personal Software and redesigned the game’s packaging. The new look used letters carved in stone and a trapdoor to evoke a sense of mystery and reference Zork’s caves and dungeons.
COURTESY OF MIKE DORNBROOK
Zen Yogi: cripes, Silas, when this goes back to 1981, it's not nostalgia but archaeology
I'm reasonably sure I'm not a pile of bones recovered from some archaeological dig so I assure you it really is nostalgia.
While I have not reviewed it, there is a site which permits one to play ZORK on your modern devices. (TextAdventures: Zork by Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling)
Zen Yogi: what is the Zen Moment, Silas?
The glitz, glam, and heavy weapons of modern games are only useless distractions relative to the core of gaming, the wit of the actual game. ZORK was then but it's also Now.
Zen Yogi: ZORK would probably have a wittier way to say that
Yes but I am not the Wizard of Frobozz.
Zen Yogi: but still you learn?
As ever, Yogi.
Zen Yogi: the computer or the gamer catches fire?
That's the gamer, Yogi, but the plus side for the parents is at least the little rotter finally leaves home.
Before all that was ZORK and it was inspired by ADVENTUR by Willie Crowther which set the standard for computer games and which practically all subsequent games failed ... except for ZORK: (Technology Review: The Enduring Legacy of Zork)
Note: ADVENTUR was the first game of any significance beyond silly games like STARTREK, etc. Aficionados typically walked about with a folded up (i.e. crumpled) sheet of paper on which they had scribbled the various locations they had discovered and how to get from those to others.
Zen Yogi: did ZORK have great graphics, Silas?
It didn't have any graphics, Yogi.
Zen Yogi: it must have had some kind of spectacularly cool form of control then, right?
There's nothing like that, Yogi. One types, it types, and then one types some more.
Zen Yogi: I tell you, Silas. It sounds like this ZORK sucks
Au contraire, my furry bear buddy, since the design was brilliant and millions were attracted to the subtle genius of it.
Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling—who between them earned seven MIT degrees in electrical engineering and computer science, political science, and biology—bonded over their interest in computer games, then in their infancy, as they worked or consulted for the Laboratory for Computer Science’s Dynamic Modeling Group. By day, all of them but Blank (who was in medical school) developed software for the U.S. Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which funded projects at MIT. On nights and weekends, they used their coding skills—and mainframe access—to work on Zork.
- TR
You see it right away that these fellows were much smarter than the average bears around them and the result of their development was exceptionally compelling.
Zen Yogi: you got hooked, didn't you?
Sure since I've been to the Land of Frobozz many, many times and I carried my crumpled map for reference whenever there was an opportunity to play.
Vibrant, witty writing set Zork apart. It had no graphics, but lines like “Phosphorescent mosses, fed by a trickle of water from some unseen source above, make [the crystal grotto] glow and sparkle with every color of the rainbow” helped players envision the “Great Underground Empire” they were exploring as they brandished such weapons as glowing “Elvish swords.” “We played with language just like we played with computers,” says Daniels. Wordplay also cropped up in irreverent character names such as “Lord Dimwit Flathead the Excessive” and “The Wizard of Frobozz.”
- TR
Zen Yogi: holy popping bubble gum, you're getting nostalgic, aren't you?
Shamelessly, Yogi.
It was a cool time since Zorkers came to know each other and Rick Prairie of the University of Cincinnati became the Zorker King. He held a PhD in Biochemistry but he preferred to be called Rick by people. He was one straight-up fellow with a great sense of humor and he's also the one who introduced me to MOSAIC, the first Web browser or the first accessible to the public.
In 1981, Infocom reacquired the rights to Zork from Personal Software and redesigned the game’s packaging. The new look used letters carved in stone and a trapdoor to evoke a sense of mystery and reference Zork’s caves and dungeons.
COURTESY OF MIKE DORNBROOK
Zen Yogi: cripes, Silas, when this goes back to 1981, it's not nostalgia but archaeology
I'm reasonably sure I'm not a pile of bones recovered from some archaeological dig so I assure you it really is nostalgia.
While I have not reviewed it, there is a site which permits one to play ZORK on your modern devices. (TextAdventures: Zork by Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling)
Zen Yogi: what is the Zen Moment, Silas?
The glitz, glam, and heavy weapons of modern games are only useless distractions relative to the core of gaming, the wit of the actual game. ZORK was then but it's also Now.
Zen Yogi: ZORK would probably have a wittier way to say that
Yes but I am not the Wizard of Frobozz.
Zen Yogi: but still you learn?
As ever, Yogi.
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